


Fake it 'til you make it

by annagarny



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Derek Feels, Derek Hale is Bad at Feelings, Derek Has Issues, Fake/Pretend Relationship, First Kiss, First Time, Isaac Feels, Jealousy, M/M, Pining, Prompt Fill, Stiles Saves The Day
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-09-02
Updated: 2013-09-12
Packaged: 2017-12-25 10:00:29
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/951761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/annagarny/pseuds/annagarny
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Isaac came to a screeching halt at the locker room doors, nose in the air and took a deep breath in. Okay, he could do this. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that she was still following him - apparently running away hadn’t been enough of a clue that he wasn’t interested.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * In response to a prompt by Anonymous in the [kicked_puppy](https://archiveofourown.org/collections/kicked_puppy) collection. 



> **Prompt:**
> 
>  
> 
> Isaac and either Derek or Stiles have to pretend to be boyfriends/mated for one reason or another. Maybe just to fend off a girl who's interested in Isaac at school, or maybe it's a territorial thing with Derek and another werewolf pack.  
> Would love it if one already has feelings for the other (makes for awesome pining).

Isaac came to a screeching halt at the locker room doors, nose in the air and took a deep breath in. Okay, he could do this. He glanced over his shoulder and saw that she was still following him - apparently running away hadn’t been enough of a clue that he wasn’t interested. So he barreled into the boys’ locker room and cast around for the boy broadcasting the familiar smell.

“Stiles!” he hissed, and the other boy spun around so fast he almost landed on his ass.  
“Isaac?” he asked, not seeming entirely sure about why he was even being addressed by the blonde beta.  
“Stiles, can you do me a favor and play along for the next three minutes without asking any questions?”  
“Play along with what?”  
“Be my boyfriend?”

Stiles blinked once, shook his head a little and blinked again.

“Boyfriend?”  
“For like three minutes- Charmaine-”  
“Say no more. She’s got the crazy eyes. Get over here.” Stiles held out a hand and Isaac let out a sigh of pure relief, stepped over the bench between them and practically fell onto Stiles, threading their fingers together and letting their chests connect. Stiles looked up at him and grinned, slid his other hand up Isaac’s arm and before the werewolf had time to react he’d reached the back of his neck and tilted his face down, pressing their mouths together just as the door behind Isaac creaked open.

For a first kiss it could have happened in better circumstances, for instance, the person walking through the door could have been Crazy Charmaine, the person who was intended to witness it. No, instead, it was Derek.

“Yeah, I’m not even going to touch this one. Isaac, I’ll be in the parking lot. Stiles, stop molesting my pack members, please?”

He turned and left before Stiles could refute the accusation and Isaac dropped his head onto the other boys’ shoulder, biting his lower lip to stop himself from laughing. Then he heard the voice that set his teeth on edge.

“Uh - is Isaac in there?”  
“Yes.” Isaac considered cursing just loud enough for Derek to hear him, but decided it wasn’t worth the trouble.  
“Are you like a substitute teacher or something? You’re here a lot but nobody seems to know what you do.”  
“I’m a guidance counselor and I’m late for an appointment.”

It was all Isaac could do not to groan out loud. Derek, a guidance counselor? He just hoped Stiles hadn’t heard the exchange, because nobody would hear the end of it if he had. Least of all Derek. Seriously. Guidance counselor? He couldn’t have said that he was someone’s big brother? At least that was believable...

The door creaked open again and a blonde head poked in.

“Isaac?”

He turned his head just far enough to see the girl stepping into the locker room, his body still pressed against Stiles and their hands still linked together.  
“Yeah?” he asked, not moving away from the other boy.  
“Oh, um. You were serious.”  
“Yeah, why wouldn’t you think I was serious? So no, I won’t be going out with you.”  
“Right.” 

Isaac turned his face back into Stiles’ shoulder, meaning that Stiles was the only one who saw the girls’ eyes narrow, saw the calculating look she shot him and the smirk that was flashed before she left the locker room. 

They stayed put for a few seconds, still pressed together, and Isaac tried to get his breathing and heart rate under control.

“Uh, she’s gone, dude.”  
“I know.”  
“She also didn’t look like she was really too put off by the fact that we claim to be boning.”  
“Yeah, I figured that might happen.” Isaac stepped back until his calves hit the bench and he sat down on it kind of heavily, settling his head in his hands, fingers carding through his curls. “I’m going to have to come up with something to keep her at bay or convince her that I really am off the market. Maybe I can get Derek to help-”  
“You know, it’s not like I’ve got a boyfriend or anything right now. It’s not even really on the horizon for me in any way, shape or form... so I could keep helping out, if you want.”

Isaac lifted his head to look at Stiles, one eyebrow raised. 

“Seriously?”  
“Well, Derek already saw us making out. And you’re not a bad kisser. Honestly I could do worse in a fake boyfriend.”  
“You- you’re serious. You’d pretend to be gay because Crazy Charmaine wants me to take her to prom?”  
“Well it’s not really pretending when I’m bisexual anyway, dude, and it’ll get her permanently off of both our cases, so-”  
“Okay.”  
“Are we going to tell anyone else?” Stiles sat down next to him, and as he did Isaac realized something he hadn’t even noticed; Stiles was only wearing a towel. No wonder Derek had bolted, the thing was that low on his hips it was a wonder nobody had got an eyeful while they were kissing each other.  
“I don’t see why we should bother. The more people who know that it’s fake, the more likely it is that she’ll find out.”  
“So... we’re boyfriends until after prom?”  
“Looks like.” Stiles stood up again and clapped a hand on Isaac’s shoulder. “But in the meantime I’d really rather get dressed without you staring at my pasty ass. Talk later?”  
“Uh, sure. Yeah, Derek’s still waiting to take me home.”  
“You’ve got my cell number?”  
Isaac leveled a look at him, unimpressed. “Stiles, you made up laminated contact cards for everyone so that we’d all have each others’ numbers even if there were ‘phone related disasters’.”  
“Hey, it’s a legitimate concern! I went through a cell phone a month when Scott first got bitten!”  
“Right.”  
“Damn right I’m right. And I’m going to put some pants on and... we’ll talk later?”  
“Yeah.”

Isaac left the locker room and quickly looked both ways before heading towards the parking lot, smiling, sheepish, at Derek as he slid into the passenger seat of the SUV.

“You know what? I’m not even going to ask why. Because I don’t want to know. Ever.”  
“Okay.”  
“And if you bring him back to the apartment you will replace every single thing he eats. I swear, he’s as bad as a werewolf.”  
“Uh-”  
“And you can’t borrow the car if you want to take him out, you can be seen in his stupid Jeep.”  
“Oh- okay?”  
“Good.” Derek nodded. Then he turned to look at Isaac properly. “Where’s your backpack?”  
Isaac let his head fall backwards onto the headrest and groaned. “It’s still in my locker; I didn’t even grab it when I heard her coming!”  
“Her? What her? The blonde who was looking for you?”  
“You - you really don’t want to know. Trust me on this.”  
“Well, do you need it? Get Stiles to bring it over.”  
“Oh, okay, uh, sure.”  
Derek sat there for a moment, looking at him expectantly.  
“What?”  “Aren’t you going to text your boyfriend and ask him to come visit this afternoon?”  
“Oh, yeah. That. Right.” He leaned back in his seat and extracted his phone, composing the text as Derek pulled them out of the parking lot.  
“Uh-”  
“Yes, he can stay for dinner but you’re cooking. And Peter won’t be there, so it’s just going to be the three of us.”  
“Actually-”  
“No you can’t have the place to yourselves. You want privacy, use his bedroom. His dad works long enough shifts that I’m sure it won’t be a problem.”  
Isaac’s mouth may have been hanging open slightly, and Derek smirked. “I was a teenager once, Isaac. I remember things. Just - wear a shirt with a collar when you have dinner with his dad. The guy’s arrested me, too. I think he’d appreciate it.”  
“I don’t think we’re at the ‘dinner with his dad’ stage just yet, Derek.”  
“But you are going to prom together, right?”  
“We - what?”  
Derek tapped his ear and Isaac deflated entirely. “You heard the whole thing, didn’t you?”  
“The whole reason I came looking for you was that I heard your heart rate go through the roof when that blonde girl who wears too much perfume started talking to you. So you’re going to pretend to date Stiles for what, a month?”  
“Maybe until the end of the year at this rate.”  
“She seriously won’t be put off by the fact that you’re dating a guy in the first place?”  
“She hits on Danny when his boyfriend is right there.”  
Derek raised an eyebrow. “She’s got guts, I’ll give her that.” He paused, seemed to be considering something, and when they paused at the next stoplight he cleared his throat and spoke again. “You know, you could have asked me.”  
“Asked you what?”  
“Well, I’d think I’m a more intimidating prospect than Stilinski.”  
“You- you’d do that for me?”  
“If you asked, sure.”  
Isaac stared at the side of Derek’s face, which was not giving a damn thing away, as they drove through Beacon Hills. They came to a stop in the apartment complex’s parking lot, and Isaac shook his head slightly before following his roommate to the new apartment.

Since the whole debacle with the alphas, Derek had relocated them to a building with a lobby and something vaguely resembling security - you had to be buzzed in to access the place (not that it mattered much, Stiles had taken it upon himself to copy the apartment key and within a week everyone had keys, anyway) but, officially, according to the lease, Isaac and Derek lived in the two bedroom apartment on the third floor.

“So, what should I cook for dinner?” Isaac asked as Derek opened the door, making for the kitchen to see what they had in the refrigerator.  
“I don’t mind, but I’m going to the gym for a couple hours, if you need anything from the market send me a text.” Derek went into his room and came out a moment later with his sneakers and gym bag in hand.  
“Okay.”  
“Did you want to tell Stiles that I know you’re faking it?”  
“Uh-”  
“Because I can play along, if you like.”  
Isaac considered for a moment, then nodded. “If you could play along, that would be great. Stiles thinks the less people who know it’s fake, the better.”  
“No problem. I’ll be back around six.”  
“Sure.”  
Derek nodded and left the apartment, and the moment the door closed with a soft click, Isaac dropped his head to the counter with a hollow thunk.  
This was going to get out of hand, and fast. Especially if they had to keep things up during - oh hell. The pack meeting.  
Tomorrow night.  
This was going to be hell.


	2. Chapter 2

“DUDE. WHAT THE HELL!?”  
Okay, so someone had told Scott.  
Isaac glanced over at Stiles, who shrugged. It hadn’t been him, and they turned as one to look at Lydia, who continued to examine her nails, the picture of innocence.  
Stiles didn’t buy it.  
“Lydia?”  
“What? I thought he had the right to know that his two best friends had decided to hook up without even a courtesy text.”  
“We were going to tell him when it was appropriate!” Stiles objected.  
“What, when you decided to get married?”  
“We’ve been together less than a week, Lydia. And we haven’t even decided if it’s anything that serious, yet.”  
“So, you were just going to wait for him to walk in on you making out, then?” Lydia demanded.  
“Hey!” Derek called, not actually raising his voice, just making his objection known. “I did walk in on them making out. It was traumatic. I wouldn’t even wish that on Scott. No offense, Scott.”  
“And nobody is trying to minimize your trauma, Dee-Dee-”  
“Don’t - how did you find out about that name?” Derek demanded, narrowing his eyes at Lydia, who dismissed him with a wave of her hand and continued to talk to the rest of the group, gathered.  
“-we’re just concerned that Isaac and Stiles felt the need to conceal their great love for one another from the rest of us.”  
“Gee, Lydia, I dunno why we did that, maybe because you’d react like you are right now?” The sarcasm was a little thick, but Stiles was confident in his ability to pull it off without doing himself an injury.  
Scott was still apparently incensed to the point of speechlessness. He was looking from Isaac to Stiles and back with an expression of pure betrayal, and after a few moments, decided to take a seat.  
“I don’t know what to do.” He muttered, threading his fingers through his hair and resting his elbows on his knees. Derek, who he’d sat next to, reached a hand out almost absently and rubbed a few soothing circles between his shoulder blades, not actually looking away from the book in his other hand.   
It spoke to how discombobulated Scott was that he didn’t immediately jerk away or glare at Derek, just allowed the contact for a few moments before shaking himself and looking up at the other boys.  
“... why?” was all he could manage to muster. Stiles raised an eyebrow.  
“Why what?” Isaac asked.  
“Why? Why are you two-” Scott waved a hand in the general direction of the space between Isaac and Stiles, apparently unable to voice his objection.  
“Boning?” Stiles asked,  
“Dating?” Isaac prompted.

Scott buried his face in his hands again and started muttering, something about too much information and “-don’t know what else I expected from you, Stiles.”  
“Dude! Do I really have to remind you of the Great Allison Overshare?”  
“What?” Allison, who up until this point had been quiet on the other couch, perked up at this. “What overshare?”  
“Let’s just say that I know a few things about you that I really shouldn’t know without having seen you naked.” Stiles told her, and Allison shot a glare at Scott before crossing the room and smacking him across the back of the head. She sat down on the sofa on the other side of Derek, crossing her arms and staring at Stiles until he squirmed.  
“I’m sorry, that was inappropriate. But the important thing is that we’ve told you all, now. Right?”  
“I suppose. Was there any other reason we were all here at Derek’s place, or can I go home, now?”  
“I actually wanted to talk to you all about training.” Derek put in, so Lydia claimed the recliner, leaving the empty love seat that Allison had just vacated for Isaac and Stiles to sit on.   
Isaac looked at his ‘boyfriend’ and shrugged, so a moment later they were both sat on the tiny thing, the cushions so worn that as they sat the foam collapsed and within seconds they were squashed together from shoulder to hip. After a few seconds of awkward maneuvering they ended up sort of sideways on the seat, Isaac behind Stiles, who had ended up between the other boys’ legs.

Derek looked at them over the cover of his book for a moment and once they stilled he snapped it shut, dropping it to the floor between his feet and Allison’s. 

He outlined the training plan he’d put together for the six of them to follow for the remainder of the semester, since lacrosse had started again the boys were training three nights a week, but Derek wasn’t sure if that alone would be enough to keep them sharp.  
“Hey, dude, I run three miles a day.” Stiles pointed out. “I make Dad do it with me twice a week, it’s good for his heart.”  
“I do ten.” Derek told him.  
“You’re a freaking werewolf.”  
“So’s your boyfriend. Does he run three miles a day?”  
“Uh, no. Not that I know of.”  
“Actually, I have a five mile circuit that I’ve been following since before you bit me... but I haven’t done it in a while.”  
“Okay, how about you two do that circuit the mornings that Stiles doesn’t run with his dad?”  
“Dude! I can’t run five miles then go to school five days a week!”  
“Isaac needs to - I thought you might want to join him.”  
“Hey, I’d like to, but there’s no way-”  
“Okay then, Isaac, you can join me for the first half of my run on weekdays.”  
“What about Scott?”  
“I already run five miles every morning.” Scott put in. “I’ve been doing it since the summer, man.”  
“That explains a lot.” Stiles shifted his weight slightly and Isaac stilled, then looked down at the boy in front of him, one eyebrow raised.  
“What?” Stiles whispered, either forgetting or choosing to ignore the fact that half of his audience could hear him clearly no matter how low he dropped his voice.  
“Nothing.” Isaac muttered, shifting his own hips a little. Stiles grinned and Derek cleared his throat.  
“Sorry.” Isaac and Stiles both apologised at once, though neither looked particularly repentant.

Two hours later, Derek was about ready to tear someone’s head off - Lydia insisted that between gym class at school, her personal trainer and daily pilates sessions she did not need to do any training with Derek. Allison agreed, offering to teach the other girl some basic self-defense in a failed attempt at soothing the savage beast of an Alpha who was now pacing back and forth across the expanse of his loft.

The discussion of training schedules had devolved into Stiles and Isaac practically dry-humping on the couch while trying to pretend that they weren’t, the girls giggling about it and Scott looking increasingly uncomfortable with the situation at large.

Derek finally had enough, sat back down on the other sofa and waved a hand at the whole group.

“Just - if anyone gets shot or stabbed I am taking no responsibility for it. Get the hell out of my apartment.”

They all got to their feet, Scott leading the charge, unwilling to spend any more time than he really had to in Derek’s space. Lydia and Allison followed at a more sedate pace, and when Derek risked a glance at Stiles and Isaac he immediately regretted it - they were both on their feet but locked in an embrace that looked rather too intimate to be granted an audience.

“I’m going out. Lock up when you leave.” He leapt to his feet and exited the loft at speed, Isaac and Stiles separated from their hug and Stiles shrugged at Isaac’s raised, questioning eyebrow.  
“I don’t know, dude, he doesn’t seem to be that into PDA even when it’s other people doing it.”  
“Huh. Well, I’m crashing at my Aunt’s place tonight, can you give me a ride?”  
“Sure. Hey, you want to see a movie tomorrow after practice?”  
“Sounds good.”

Isaac slid the door closed after them, careful to lock it and to then pull himself up to hide the key where it was usually left - on a ledge ten feet from the floor where non-werewolves would struggle to reach it without a ladder - and followed Stiles to the Jeep.

Neither of them noticed the red eyes watching from the shadows of the alley opposite, and Isaac was distracted enough by the stream of chatter coming from Stiles that he didn’t hear the huffing exhale or the teeth grinding coming from that same direction.


End file.
